Executive Director

Lead an Organization That’s Already Changing Lives, and Help It Reach Further

Community for Hope has spent over two decades building Winnebago County’s response to suicide prevention, intervention, and grief support. The programs work. The community trusts us. Now we’re looking for a leader ready to take what’s already built and help it grow further.

This is an established, respected organization with active programs and strong community relationships. This isn’t a startup, and it isn’t an organization in a dire turnaround position. We’re looking for an Executive Director who can carry this work forward, deepen its impact, and help us reach more people who need us.

Salary: Starting at $60,000, commensurate with experience

Benefits: We currently cannot offer a formal benefits package. What we can offer is significant flexibility in how you structure your day, your week, and where you work from. Depending on experience and organizational need, we’re also open to discussing additional support options for the right candidate.

Schedule: Full-time, generally between 25 and 40 hours per week, with occasional scheduled evenings and weekends for meetings, trainings, and community events. This is not an on-call role. Expect a consistent 40-hour week while onboarding and getting established in the community. As your confidence builds and efficiencies fall into place, the schedule is expected to even out into more of a natural ebb and flow, with a busy 40 hour week around a major event sometimes followed by  lighter 20 to 30 hour weeks.

Location: Oshkosh, WI (community-based, with flexibility across office, remote, and in-community work)

A Day in the Life

Every day is different, but this is what a full one can look like.

8:30 AM: Start the day with email. Respond to a few volunteers and program participants about upcoming trainings.

9:15 AM: Pick up the mail from our office at Mercy Hospital.

9:45 AM: Open the mail and log any checks, donations, and grants in our Network for Good database. Spot a generous new gift? Send the donor a thank you email right away, then create thank you letters and get them in the mail.

11:00 AM: Meet with Amanda Moore, our fractional fundraising partner, to review upcoming grants and projects and work on the theme and tasks for our end of year appeal.

12:30 PM: Review the latest Grief Group survey results and note what participants are telling us. Send board of directors drafted agenda for meeting next week. 

2:00 PM: Facilitate a 90 minute QPR training for County Youth staff.

3:45 PM: Join a Zoom with Suicide Prevention Action Team sub-committee members to talk through Lethal Means Safety and Project Safeguard.

4:45 PM: Check email one more time, wrap up, and head home.

Other days might include attending the Adult Suicide Death Review Team meeting with county and community organizations, or sitting down with a funder to review progress on our strategic plan.

What You’ll Do

As Executive Director, you’ll serve as the organization’s chief staff leader, working closely with the Board of Directors to turn strategy into action. In practice, that means:

• Leading and representing CFH across the community, from coalition meetings to public presentations, as the visible face of our mission
• Driving suicide prevention and mental health programming, including leadership within the Suicide Prevention Action Team (SPAT) and Adult Suicide Death Review Team (ASDR)
• Overseeing and personally conducting education and training efforts, including QPR and other evidence-based programs delivered to schools, businesses, and community groups
• Supporting grief and postvention services, helping survivors of suicide loss connect with the resources they need
• Managing fundraising and grant development, from writing proposals to stewarding funder relationships and reporting. CFH also works with a fractional fundraising contractor who takes a hands-on approach; you’ll be expected to invest real time in that partnership, learning from them and helping steer the strategy together
• Recruiting, training, and leading volunteers, who are essential to how CFH operates day to day. Volunteers support outreach and help run trainings, sometimes independently and sometimes alongside you, so part of this role is making sure they’re trained and scheduled to do that work well
• Overseeing organizational operations, including budgeting, financial oversight, and Board reporting
• Building and sustaining partnerships across healthcare, law enforcement, schools, public health, and other community systems

This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll be the organization’s only staff member, working closely alongside a committed volunteer base and an engaged Board rather than managing a large internal team. You’ll need to be comfortable being both the strategist and the one doing the work.

Who We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone ready to step into their first or next Executive Director role, likely coming from a program leadership, clinical, or director-level position in mental health, suicide prevention, or the broader nonprofit sector.

Ideally, this is someone who wants to grow into organizational leadership while staying genuinely connected to the work itself, and who may also be looking for a healthier work-life balance while continuing to do work that matters. Since this isn’t an on-call position, that balance is more achievable here than it might be elsewhere.

You might be a great fit if you have:

• A background in mental health, suicide prevention, social work, counseling, public health, or nonprofit program leadership
• Strong emotional intelligence and the interpersonal skill to navigate a Board with a range of personalities and, at times, real friction, with patience and professionalism
• Confident public speaking and facilitation skills, comfortable presenting to community groups, schools, and professional audiences
• Comfort moving between strategic thinking and hands-on action. This role asks you to lead and to do, often without anyone telling you what comes next. You’ll need to hold yourself accountable to your own standards, and help the Board and volunteers do the same
• A genuine willingness to learn, especially around the operational and fundraising sides of nonprofit leadership if that’s newer territory for you
• Familiarity with, or a strong interest in becoming part of, the Oshkosh and Winnebago County community
• Strong people skills overall, since this role runs on relationships with the Board, volunteers, partners, and the community

On paper, this typically looks like:

• A Bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, counseling, public health, nonprofit management, or a related field (Master’s preferred)
• Experience in suicide prevention, mental health, social services, public health, or a closely related nonprofit setting
• Familiarity with fundraising, grant writing, or grant administration
• Comfort with technology used in nonprofit operations, including virtual meetings, social media, websites, and standard office tools

What Success Looks Like

Within your first year, success looks like strong working relationships with community partners and the Board, meaningful engagement in SPAT and ASDR, steady fundraising progress, and a community that continues to see CFH as a trusted leader in suicide prevention and mental health.